Founder's Note

September 1, 2026

Hello! Welcome to my first Future in Common Founder’s Note, where I’ll discuss the studio’s work since launching and into the coming year. I’m Deion Lemelle.

Why does it seem that federal policy proposals responsive to the needs of constituents consistently fail to be enacted? This question has driven my professional interest for the past decade. Sure, there’s corruption and Citizens United. But after financial influence, is there a predominant mechanism that governs the intersection of politics and policy? Perhaps voting turnout? Or maybe biases like "[establishing] the supremacy of the white race in this State [of Louisiana] to the extent to which it could legally and constitutionally be done” when developing the institutional structures themselves? While these elements may have important effects, I’ve come to learn through experience that persuasion through media narrative is one key to policy outcomes.

In early 2025, the publicly stated timelines for achieving the technological milestone of artificial general intelligence (AGI) were receiving incoherent policy treatment by the U.S. Congress. The narrative that the deployment of artificial intelligence (AI) might permanently upend democracy was clear to me. It was a compelling narrative because AI deployment was poised to rapidly impact all of American society under a federal government that had begun conditionally responding to its citizens. I quickly devised an attempt at pro-democracy intervention.

Understanding the prospect of civil disruption around election season, should such a narrative become dominant, I sent around some initial memos and articles in May (see USAI Appendices A & B). I came to realize that policymakers seemed to know about AI impacts relative to their respective portfolios, but they were distracted by immediate concerns and were not positioned to address the full scale of disruption. It so happened that, during public policy graduate study, I had conceptualized an informal Constitution-based framework for developing AI policy in a political context. Since no institution had yet done so, I wanted to try breaking down leadership knowledge silos and showing that—through political engagement responsive to constituents—the process of AI policy development could even reinvigorate democracy in the long run. I would do so creatively and responsibly using frontier, cutting-edge tools.

In June 2025, I launched “The United States of AI: An Ethical Policy Platform for American Workers” (USAI) (usai.futureincommon.org). As discussed therein, the “platform” is neither a list of policy prescriptions nor an operational framework. It is a quick-read policy orientation tool using cohesive ideas to demonstrate my framework for developing federal AI policy issue by issue, and it includes treatment of state and local policy considerations. The “platform” is a series of thirty-four briefing memos and narrative exercises publicly posted as blog articles for anyone to draw upon at their discretion. In July, I added a set of free or pay-what-you-can toolkits (education.futureincommon.org)—including one-pagers, role plays, and facilitated teach-ins—all to demonstrate the viability for understanding and discussing AI policy in the modern political context. The USAI initiative is a practical device for professionally validated information sharing.

I voluntarily developed these tools with artificial intelligence as indicated within the documents, and on November 29, I saw the first in-depth mainstream interview discussing AI policy ideas. This was a milestone since previous AI policy discussions centered on high-level concerns or occurred in-depth only online. I wanted to try pulling together some stubbornly separated fragments of the AI narrative in the national media to see if a cohesive and compelling story emerged. I wrote up about 1,200 words and used AI to help with the other thousand. I then published a case for urgent collective action on AI as an addition to USAI’s appendix in December. I’ve received no direct feedback on the additional piece, but I soon noticed a similar narrative consolidation within the national media.

February 2026 saw national attention to the development of autonomous weapons and AI-driven domestic mass surveillance—including in the legacy media—clearly indicating to political leaders the possibility for responsive political engagement on AI. The consolidation around these particular concerns demonstrated what the USAI framework does: no matter which issue brings you into AI policy, we Americans have shared interests across the board. Because USAI’s objectives had indirectly been met at that time, I determined that pro-democracy narrative intervention was no longer necessary.

Consistent with Constitutional federalism, I continue to believe organizations with longstanding direct or subsidiary ties to local communities are best positioned to lead engagement and advocacy on AI policy. And while I understand the democratic stakes of the current political contests, I remain committed to only part-time political work within the forthcoming election cycles. I do not intend to lead community organizing specific to the November 2026 election, though I remain willing to support organizations through other means upon request. I will focus on meeting the needs of my local community in other ways.

I know that USAI has been useful to readers. If you’ve read USAI and desire to expand your understanding of the topic for greater policy engagement, several books are consistent with the people-centered and pro-democracy values of USAI—and even informed it. I encourage you to review works by the authors discussed in the article “The Lineage of Ideas” and additional books on tech equity related to class disparities. Regarding relevant social dynamics, you might also consider writings by Dr. Robert Putnam such as Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Democracy (2000) and the recent Roman Catholic encyclical on AI by His Holiness Pope Leo XIV, Magnifica Humanitas (2026). I’m still reading these, and I believe they can equip you with a strong operational understanding of the policy topic.

I founded Future in Common as a pro-democracy civic studio to house USAI and eventually other work relative to the momentous AI transition. As we approach 2027, I endeavor to memorialize the USAI initiative in a useful way. And as called upon, I plan to develop opportunities that cultivate human connection and facilitate practical understanding relevant to the changes AI is bringing. Despite the scale and speed of these changes, I expect we will collectively bring about a wave of prosperity.

Thank you for following Future in Common and USAI. If you’d like to support the development of future programming at this time, I invite you to contribute via Venmo (@futureincommon), PayPal (Future in Common), or CashApp ($futureincommon). Please send any inquiries, feedback, and partnership proposals to contact@futureincommon.org. 

I’m praying for you and your family.

Sincerely,

Deion Lemelle, MPP

Founder

Future in Common